Inca Trails
Machu Picchu
The Fabled Lost City of the Incas

Train: 1-day Excursion

We take the 8:15 am train from Ollantaytambo, a 15 minute drive from the hotel. The train journey to Machu Picchu has been described by many as one of the most spectacular in the world, along the banks of the rushing Rio Urubamba, past striking Inca ruins and through an intense green and lush landscape of pisonay trees and orchids. Once we arrive in the town of Machu Picchu pueblo, we check into our hotel, have a light snack and then take a bus up to Machu Picchu. (If we are staying at The Sanctuario, we go straight up on the bus)

The bus passes through dense green forests, the same forests through which Hiram Bingham, an American explorer, made his way in his search for Machu Picchu. He finally found it in 1911 with the help of campesinos, local farmers who had been cultivating corn in the ruins. The site was so overgrown and covered with vegetation, that it took him some time to realize what a monumental find it was.

Machu Picchu, which means old mountain, is one of the most perfectly preserved Inca cities in Peru. Its existence was never known to the Spaniards and so escaped the destruction they wrought on other Inca cities. It may even have been the capital of an entire lost province. It was built in the mid-1400s for Pachacuteq the revolutionary Inca leader who began the ferocious expansion of the Empire. The city was obviously an important agricultural, religious and administrative center, but details about its inhabitants and why it was never found by the Spanish remain a mystery.

As the bus rounds the mountain curves, you will catch your first glimpse of this awe-inspiring city. It is a sight you will not forget easily: lines of descending green terraces, stone walls, houses with thatched roofs, all surrounded by towering mountains and wisps of clouds.

Our tour of Machu Picchu with an expert guide covers all the major sites of the city (and many minor ones as well). These include: Fountains: 16 small waterfall fountains, arranged in steps, an amazing feat of engineering; The Sun Temple with its trapezoid niches and a massive black rock with a notch tailor-made for the June solstice sunrise; the Royal Tomb area, which many believe to be a temple for Pachamama, the Earth Goddess; the Principal Temple with its fine stone walls; and a stone carved to resemble the Southern Cross; the Intiwatana a black rock sundial with a stone column, which roughly translates, according to guide and author Peter Frost, to “Hitching Post of the Sun,” because the “Incas are said to have ritually tied the sun to such stones during solstice sunrises.” This is the only perfectly preserved Intiwatana in all of Peru; the Sacred Rock carved to resemble the snow-capped peak opposite it; the Temple of the Condor, a towering condor-shaped rock which features, at its base, a stone carved with the eyes and neck of a condor. We end the day with a 20-minute walk up to the top of all the terraces, which gives us a stunning view of the whole city. This area also houses the Funerary rock, where, many believe, the dead were prepared for mummification. We pay our respects to the Inca ghosts on this rock and then descend down a shorter path to the exit.

We take the bus back to the village and then board the train and return to Urubamba.